Used Playground Equipment and New Equipment.

You can purchase used playground equipment for your home daycare. When
you set up your home you are obviously going to need daycare equipment.
One place I have found great deals is at garage sales.
Garage Sale Academy
is an excellent resource for buying and selling used items at garage
sales, yard sales and thrift stores.
Pick the name brand quality items for 10 cents on the dollar. When you
buy new equipment make sure you buy high quality--remember kids are
rough on things. I have made recommendations throughout my website for
products I use.

Shirley R Wrong bought so many toys for her daycare room from garage
sales she lost one of the kids. Finally, they brought in a blood hound
from the pound but called off the search the next morning when the child
showed up with his parents.

Let's talk about toddlers and some of the indoor playground equipment
they will need, keeping in mind the kind of skills they have at this
stage. This will give you a pretty good idea of what you will need for
them.

They love to run, jump, climb, skip, hop, load things and dump
things- and of course you will prefer that they do these kind of things
outside!

So with all of this enthusiasm, you'll want to focus their energy by
providing them plenty of interesting indoor playground equipment. Lots
of related information on my
Toddler Development page.

Some ideas for Daycare Equipment and Used Playground Equipment are:

- Child-sized furniture for supervised climbing, (possibly) sliding and stepping up and down on.

- Large blocks or cubes.

- Small riding toys.

You can buy these types of used playground equipment at
rummage/garage sales, through newspaper ads, from family members, or
possibly do a swap with friends or other child care providers.

You could also ask at your local Child Care Resource and Referral
if any child care providers are retiring or quitting their business- if
so sometimes they will sell their used playground equipment to other
providers before they advertise it in a paper. But please be aware if
you do buy used playground equipment, inspect it well.

Make sure that it is in good shape- clean with no peeling paint
(or lead paint!), no broken or loose parts, or sharp edges. Also be sure
it is age appropriate for your group of children.

-And for a safe play corner area check out what works great for me and my kids, it is a
MULTI-PURPOSE Play Mat
- Indoor playground equipment pop-up tents are fantastic for exploration
play (then could pretend they are camping and you could provide simple
camping supplies you probably already have- cups, plastic plates, small
sleeping bags, back packs, child binoculars, old pots or pans). I would
suggest you keep these items in a clear, labeled tote for easy access.
My day care kids absolutely LOVE to play camping- heck, they love
playing in the tents period. What else is great about the tents are that
you can easily take them outside! They clean up easily- total FUN!

- Tunnels ( I have some that connect to the tents and they collapse safely for easy storage)

- Set up an obstacle course- challenge them to walk, crawl,
roll, balance, climb, and balance something like a beanbag or small
pillow on their heads. Put on some fun music while you do this and
you'll all have a great time- I guarantee it!

- Larger card board boxes to crawl around in. (A good way to recycle
as used playground equipment- and it doesn't have to be expensive!).

- Appliance boxes are a blast! They are sturdy and the fun can
last for days. If you take an old shower curtain and protect your floor,
you can put the box on top of it and let the kids paint it - or if you
are not up for a pretty good mess, they can use crayons to "decorate".
You could cut out a door and some windows to make it into a small play
house... Use your imagination and ask the kids what you can turn your
box into! You are making your own daycare equipment! Hours of fun!!

If you have limited space in your home this can be achieved by
possibly rearranging some of your own furniture or temporarily storing
some of your things out of the way.

See how easily you can have used playground equipment and indoor
playground equipment in your child care home without spending a lot of
money! It will help your day go smoother and faster when the kids (and
you) are having a good time.